Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: 3 minutes When I worked as a professional dog trainer, my dog school was called “Oliver and Me.” Oliver was my dog. But I didn’t just name my school after him because I loved him. He actually helped me train. Doing private training in the suburbs outside of New York City often meant there were no other […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Once you’ve trained your cat to accept restraint, you can start training for blood draws. Depending on your cat’s age and lifestyle, they may need regular blood draws for wellness or to test for diseases such as FeLV/FIV. Of course, you won’t actually be poking them with needles at home, but by teaching them to […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’re anything like me, you probably hug your cat several times a day. It wasn’t until I became a veterinarian that I realized many cats don’t like being hugged, and if they do, it’s not by strangers poking them with needles at the vet clinic. Many cats also dislike having areas of their body […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes When you are training many dogs a day rather than just your own, it’s easy to find shortcuts and little tricks that make training a dog easier, faster, and more fun for both the human teacher and the canine student. It’s also easier to see things from the dog’s perspective which can be the hidden answer […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes I was training a client and her dog outside in her neighborhood when a scruffy dog happily approached us. There was no owner in sight. I slipped a spare leash on him and checked his collar. Luckily, “Fred” had an ID tag. I called the number. “Hello,” I said when a woman answered. “I found […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Seek Back is used by police to send a dog to search a large area where a crime may have been committed. A trained dog will search methodically, quartering the area and searching back and forth, the way you might mow a lawn, so they don’t miss a spot. Once they find something that […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Is shedding a big hairy deal at your house? Our black German Shepherd used to shed drifts of hairy tumbleweeds that turned cream carpet to gray. Now Bravo the Bullmastiff’s short red hairs transform our socks into fuzzy slippers. Karma-Kat’s short silver fur and Shadow-Pup’s gray undercoat cling to upholstery and clothing, and float through […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Being a show dog is the canine equivalent of entering beauty contests. There are many levels to work through. Getting to Westminster (which has been postponed this year due to the pandemic), the National Dog Show, or one of the other large benched shows is like being in the finals for Miss America! The road […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes I’d just taken my senior Poodle, Peach, outside to potty. Instead of doing her business, she stood blinking at me, shivering a bit in the cold despite her little sweater. I kept the sliding door open in case she changed her mind, and sat down to eat lunch. Peach squatted next to my chair and […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Tricks are perfect for puppies. They’ll help your puppy learn to pay attention to words, and to you; they’ll demonstrate the joys of cracking a joke and making people laugh; they can reinforce training; make for a better partnership; instill confidence in a new puppy; and give you, the human partner, a chance to show […]